"Sanna gazed up at the great feathered beast standing before her. It was easily twice as tall as she with a hulking build that made it seemed like a wall of muscle and feathers. Its shoulder alone was taller than her father, Rorek, standing beside the massive animal. He held a long rope attached to the beast’s boxy head that seemed altogether too thin to really do anything if the animal decided to act on its own.

Sanna knew what the animal was: a Shortwing Pegasus. Heavy-set in all regards, from his thick legs to his short wings and feathered tail. Even his beak was stubby, like the little finches that visited her mother’s garden.”